God Is Proud of You: How to Be Allies

Devotional

Day 1: The Weight of Honoring Another’s Journey

When we give weight to someone’s story—like Sophie’s decade-long transition—we mirror God’s kavod, His heavy glory that filled the temple. Honoring isn’t performative allyship; it’s tracking with others as they grow, refusing to reduce them to past struggles or static identities. Just as Sophie found freedom in being seen as a woman beyond her trans experience, we’re called to hold space for the sacred shifts in others. This requires humility, curiosity, and releasing our need to define people by what they’ve outgrown. [46:24]

“So the cloud of the Lord covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”
(Exodus 40:34–35, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your life needs you to honor their current chapter rather than fixate on their past? How might you “give weight” to their growth this week?

Day 2: From Scapegoat to Sacred Story

The scapegoat ritual—dumping sin onto a goat driven into the wilderness—mirrors how communities exile what they refuse to carry. Sophie named the pain of having others’ unprocessed shadows heaped onto her, a wilderness she wandered until finding a church that honored her weight. To dishonor (kalal) is to treat someone as disposable; to honor is to say, “Your story is too heavy to abandon.” [47:26]

“Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel… and he shall send it away into the wilderness… The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area.”
(Leviticus 16:21–22, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you felt like a scapegoat? How can you offer others the opposite—a space where their burdens are shared, not exiled?

Day 3: Fruitfulness Rooted in God’s Evergreen Strength

Allyship isn’t a box to check but sap flowing from God’s evergreen heart. Sophie and David’s friendship thrived when they stopped performing allyship and let God’s strength fuel their curiosity. Like Hosea’s image of God as an evergreen tree, our fruitfulness—whether in advocacy, healing, or community—grows not from our hustle but abiding in His life. [52:51]

“Take with you words and return to the Lord… We will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands… I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily… Your fruit comes from me.”
(Hosea 14:2–3, 8, ESV)

Reflection: What fruit is God growing in you that feels effortless, like dew on lilies? Where are you striving instead of abiding?

Day 4: Mirroring the Sacred Shift in Others

Sophie’s journey from centering her trans identity to diving into Miriam’s story shows how holy growth requires mirrors. When David stopped reducing her to a “project” and mirrored her new passions, she felt seen. Like therapists tracking clients’ shifts, we’re called to reflect back the sacred becoming in others—even when it surprises us. [43:56]

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
(2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV)

Reflection: Who needs you to mirror their “new glory” instead of their old wounds? How can you behold Christ in them today?

Day 5: Wandering into Spaces That Honor Your Weight

Sophie wandered from a community that discarded her to a church that said, “Your brokenness is welcome here.” Like the scapegoat finding rest, she discovered people who didn’t make light of her story but made room for it. Honoring spaces aren’t about perfection—they’re where we’re pulled in, not performanced in. [49:04]

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
(Psalm 34:18–19, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you feel “heaviness” transformed into honor? How can you create that space for someone else’s story?

Sermon Summary

Pride marks ten years of transition, and the journey names a shift from centering a trans label to inhabiting life as “a woman of trans experience,” with room to love other things like Miriam and Yeshua. Joy and fear sit side by side. The call of Romans to “rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn” becomes concrete in seasons when threats make people terrified and in seasons when celebration makes people sing. Allyship moves as a two way street, not a static badge. Mutuality listens for what someone is centering now rather than dragging them backward into an earlier chapter.

Honor carries the weight of this call. The Hebrew word kavod means “weight,” and the glory that settles on tabernacle and temple is described as the weight of God filling the space until no one can enter. Honor does not mean niceness or blind obedience. Honor means giving weight to who someone is and to what their story has cost. In therapeutic work, giving weight to trauma honors both the person and even the parents, not by sentimentalizing the past but by acknowledging impact.

The opposite of honor is kalal, to “make light.” Dishonor does not always look like hatred. It often looks like shrugging off a person’s story as nothing. Israel’s scapegoat ritual shows how a community can heap its unprocessed shadow onto a vulnerable body and send it away as if it were nothing. That same pattern breaks people. It also sends them wandering. Mercy interrupts that pattern by making room, by pulling the wandering back into a community that knows how to honor story and process, and by refusing to outsource its sin.

Finding a voice for allyship grows inside that mercy. Simple speech often carries more truth than curated quotes. Just say it. Yet the move beyond “checking the ally box” is not a call to grind harder. Hosea reframes the whole thing. Israel brings sacrifices on the lips and in the hands, and God answers, “I am an evergreen tree. Your fruitfulness comes from me.” The work is real, but the source is not in the worker. Curiosity asks each morning what fruit God is growing now, whether in mentoring or being mentored, in grieving or rejoicing, in speaking or keeping silence. The evergreen keeps feeding the branches. The branches keep bearing fruit.

Key Takeaways

1. Honor means giving real weight [45:19] Honor, or kavod, names glory as weight, not sentiment. To honor someone is to treat their life and story as substantial, to make space for what has shaped them. That posture creates room for healing because it neither flattens grief nor rushes past joy. Weighty attention is how love gets traction in a soul. [45:19]
2. Refuse the scapegoat reflex [47:26] Kalal makes light of a person by dumping unprocessed shadow on them and sending them away. The scapegoat pattern may feel religious, but it hollows out a community’s soul. Mercy resists expulsion and chooses repair, welcoming those who have been cast out and owning what the community must face. Holiness looks like burden bearing, not burden shifting. [47:26]
3. Allyship mirrors the season someone is in [43:31] Real allyship tracks with what a person is centering now rather than fixing them in an old chapter. Mirroring honors growth, grief, and new joys without hijacking the story. That kind of attunement protects dignity and builds trust because it treats a person as a living, changing image bearer, not a project or cause. [43:31]
4. Plain speech can be faithful speech [50:10] Curated quotes are fine, but courage often sounds like a clear sentence in one’s own voice. Speaking plainly does not mean speaking arrogantly; it means letting truth carry its own weight. Simple words can steady those who are listening and clarify the next faithful step for the one speaking. [50:10]
5. Fruitfulness comes from the evergreen God [52:51] Hosea’s promise shifts the center: God says, “I am an evergreen tree. Your fruitfulness comes from me.” Effort matters, but life does not flow from effort. Curiosity about what fruit God is growing today keeps allyship from burnout and keeps queer journeys from despair, because the source never dries up. [52:51]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[34:22] - Invitation to Sophie
[39:10] - Unscripted conversation begins
[39:52] - Ten years of transition
[40:12] - Honoring an inner experience
[40:49] - From trans label to life
[41:29] - Remembering the Easter letter
[42:30] - Rejoice and mourn together
[43:31] - Mutuality and mirroring in allyship
[45:19] - Kavod as weight and glory
[45:33] - Tabernacle, temple, and God’s weight
[46:55] - Kalal and making light
[47:26] - The scapegoat pattern unmasked
[48:33] - Wilderness and finding a home
[50:10] - Finding a plain ally voice
[51:14] - Beyond the ally checkbox
[52:13] - Hosea and the calves of lips
[52:51] - Evergreen God, true fruitfulness
[53:50] - Curiosity about daily fruit
[54:29] - Closing and gratitude

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
- Romans 12:15 (ESV): "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."
- Hosea 14:8 (ESV): "O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit."
- Leviticus 16:21-22 (ESV): "And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel... The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness."

Observation questions

In the sermon, the Hebrew word kavod (translated as "weight" or "glory") is contrasted with kalal ("making light"). How does the imagery of God’s glory filling the temple (Exodus 40:34-35) connect to the idea of honoring someone’s story as "weighty"?
The scapegoat ritual in Leviticus 16 involved transferring sin onto a goat sent into the wilderness. How does the sermon describe modern examples of "heaping unprocessed shadow" onto others? [47:26]
Hosea 14:8 compares God to an "evergreen tree." What does this metaphor suggest about the relationship between human effort and divine fruitfulness?
The sermon emphasizes "mirroring" someone’s current season rather than fixing them in the past. What practical example was given about how allyship changes as people grow? [43:31]

Interpretation questions

Why might treating someone’s story as "weighty" (kavod) create space for healing, while "making light" (kalal) of their experience could deepen harm? How does this connect to the scapegoat pattern?
The sermon argues that "holiness looks like burden bearing, not burden shifting." How does the scapegoat ritual illustrate the danger of communities outsourcing their sin instead of facing it?
If God is the "evergreen tree" (Hosea 14:8), how might this truth challenge both allies who feel pressured to "grind harder" and marginalized people who fear their journeys will lead to despair?
Why might "plain speech" (e.g., speaking in one’s own voice) be more effective for allyship than relying on curated quotes or performative gestures? [50:10]

Application questions

Reflect on a relationship where you’ve unintentionally "made light" of someone’s pain or joy. What would it look like this week to honor their story with "weighty" attention instead?
The scapegoat ritual shows how communities can exile what they refuse to face. Where have you seen this pattern in your own circles? How could you interrupt it by "bearing burdens" rather than shifting them? [47:26]
Think of someone in your life who is in a new season (e.g., grieving, celebrating, or growing). How can you adjust your support to "mirror" their current focus instead of anchoring them to the past? [43:31]
The sermon encourages "simple speech" that carries truth without pretense. Is there a message of solidarity or love you’ve hesitated to voice plainly? What’s one step to share it this week? [50:10]
Hosea 14:8 reminds us that fruitfulness flows from God, not our effort. What daily practice (e.g., prayer, reflection) could help you stay curious about "what fruit God is growing" in you right now?

Sermon Clips

25s

#ScapegoatMetaphor

“``And so the dishonor doesn't mean hate. It just means make light of somebody treat them as if they're nothing. And you think about how this worked for the scapegoat. I just I think that's kind of a metaphor that I've thought a lot about. This big metaphor in the Hebrew scriptures, Yom Kippur, has this element of it of”

36s

#ScapegoatRitual

“the scapegoat is when the community, Israel, heaps all their sins onto a goat and sends it into the wilderness and and essentially makes light of it, says this is worth nothing, this thing. And, you know, I was telling my dear friend Kathy, who I invited here today few days ago about my own experience, like, two years ago. It really was two years ago this month”

33s

#DumpedByCommunity

“the community that I loved that I loved and that told me that they loved me and that I valued took their unprocessed work. Ewing called their shadow what they couldn't work with and dumped it onto me. And I was thinking about how to do this in the fancy chairs. It felt like this to me. Boom. See you. And,”

26s

#FromWildernessToHome

“boy, I had a hard landing. I'm telling you. I had a hard landing. I was wandering in the wilderness for a while, and then I wandered into here. That's why I love Jenny's testimony too. Same with me. I wandered into here. See, you all just pull me in.”

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God Is Proud of You: How to Be Allies - June 28, 2026